


Get Some Rest

by MetamorphicRocky



Series: Dadspeed [8]
Category: Final Space (Cartoon)
Genre: Dadspeed, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sick Character, Sickfic, but literally I never have fics that aren't that so.....no surprise there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-19 05:36:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20652059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MetamorphicRocky/pseuds/MetamorphicRocky
Summary: With everything going on in Gary's life, he's busy all the time and doesn't feel like he can stop for anything. Even if he's sick, that won't stop him from being the best dad he can be.





	Get Some Rest

Gary is so tired. It's a bone-deep exhaustion that he's never experienced before. All he wants is to sleep for days, but he can't do that. He almost misses his days on the Galaxy One when he was bored out of his mind with absolutely nothing to entertain him.

But no, having people around is much better, even if he's so busy that he barely has time to sleep. Between trying to track down dimensional keys, piloting the ship, fixing random things on the ship, being a father, and trying to not let worry over Quinn and Avocato consume him, he has a packed schedule. 

Gary likes having things to do, but this is just a bit excessive. He's not going to complain though, especially about parenthood, because he's lucky to have people he likes around.

He yawns in the pilot's seat, his eyes craving to finally shut, but he forces them open and watches as the ship lands on the planet beneath them. He stands up and walks to his room to wake up Little Cato, who basically lives in there now, seeing as how every night for the past week or so he's been sneaking in there to sleep with Gary. The kid has no idea that they're landing today, and that's because Gary wanted to surprise him with a festival he heard about on a nearby planet. And if anyone needs a break from life, it's Little Cato.

The kid is still asleep, Mooncake nestled in his arms, his face squished against the pillow in the most adorable way. Gary takes a picture of it with a tired smile on his face, then he places a hand on Little Cato's shoulder and gently shakes him.

His boy's eyes open slowly, and Little Cato smiles at him when he realizes who's in front of him. "Mornin'," he mumbles.

"Morning, Spidercat," Gary greets, ruffling the kid's hair playfully. "Go get dressed, I've got a surprise for you."

Little Cato immediately sits up, excitement in his eyes. "A surprise? What is it?"

Gary laughs. "Get ready and then you'll find out. Meet me on the bridge."

The kid throws himself off of the bed, immediately running to his actual room to get clothes on. Gary shakes his head fondly and heads to the bridge, staring out at the landscape from the hill that they're on. The scenery reminds him of autumn on earth, so this should be a fun day.

Speaking of fun, Gary can hear small and rapid footsteps quickly getting louder, so he turns around just in time for Little Cato to sprint into the room, then crash into Gary's legs, Mooncake eagerly trailing after him. 

"Tell me tell me tell meeee!" Little Cato says, jumping up and down in excitement. 

Gary laughs. "You and I, are going to a festival. I have no idea what they've got down there, but we're doing it anyways!"

Little Cato gasps, and a bright grin splits his face.

"Yeah, I know," Gary says. "I'm excited, too, but it looks like it might be a bit chilly outside. So go grab a coat, bud."

The kid waves him off. "I've got all this warm fur right here, I'll be fine."

Gary lifts an eyebrow at that. "You sure?" Little Cato nods, grabbing Gary's hand to start pulling him towards the exit. "Okay, but if you get cold, that's for you to deal with."

* * *

Why did he let Little Cato get away without bringing a coat? Why? That has to be the dumbest parenting decision Gary has made yet. 

Little Cato literally started shivering only an hour after being there. Gary wasn't going to cave because he told him it would be cold, but he couldn't do it. So he gave him his leather jacket. 

Which was a mistake. 

They just got back to the ship after a long day of fun, and Gary sent Little Cato to his room to sleep. He knows full well that the kid is going to wake him up in the middle of the night again, but he's not worried about that right now. 

He's mostly thinking about how his nose is running, and he feels very shaky right now. Is the room spinning? Maybe, he can't really tell. Okay, so he might be getting sick. No big deal. He can walk it off. It won't last for a while, he'll be completely fine if he gets some sleep tonight. That should be easy, sleeping. It's simple, just sleep. 

Gary splashes cold water on his face, trying to get rid of the clammy feel of his skin. Now he's going to bed. To sleep. So that he isn't sick.

Gary makes it to his room okay, and he puts on his pajamas and climbs into bed. 

Sleep, now. 

How about...now.

Or maybe....

Nope, okay, sleep is not happening.

Gary rolls over and smushes his face into his pillow, muffling a scream. No matter what he tries, he can't get comfortable. With a blanket, he's too hot. So he takes the blanket off, but then it's too cold. Keeping his eyes open hurts, but shutting them without being able to sleep is annoying. 

How long has he been tossing and turning, he wonders. Gary grabs his phone to check, and damn, it's one in the morning. He got in bed at ten.

Gary rubs his face with a sigh, his prosthetic arm bringing some minor relief to his heated face. God, this is not good. At all.

He hears the pitter-patter of bare feet in the hallway, signalling that Little Cato has finally come. Oh no, Gary doesn't think he has the mental strength to be comforting right now. He's so tired, and he feels like crap, to put it simply.

The door opens, light from the hallway flooding in and causing Gary's head to pound from the sudden shift in brightness. The kid quietly walks in, the door shutting behind him, providing Gary's headache some relief, and he slides into the space Gary makes for him on the bed. It's a tight fit, but Gary has found that only having room to cuddle means that Little Cato is more likely to seek comfort. 

"What's up tonight, Spidercat?" Gary rasps, holding back a cough that he knows will only end up starting a coughing fit.

Little Cato shrugs, wrapping his arms around Mooncake who snuggles into the warmth. "I can't really remember. I forgot the whole thing by the time I got here."

Gary nods. "Okay, just try to go back to sleep then, kiddo."

Little Cato inches closer to Gary, and he wraps his arms around the kid as he drifts to sleep again. Gary, however, now is not allowed to move for fear of waking the kid. So that means every time Gary can feel a cough coming on or wants to kick off the blankets or gets a chill through his entire body, he uses all of the strength he has to avoid that from happening. The kid needs sleep, and Gary will not ruin it.

Okay, so it isn't that bad. This is just a little cold that will pass within the day, then he can continue on with his life like normal with no one knowing. Perfect plan. Gary lays in bed all night, counting down the seconds until he can get up at a time that doesn't arouse suspicion.

Finally, after several agonizing hours, Gary carefully sneaks around Little Cato to get up and do something. If he stays busy, he can do this. Maybe.

Probably.

...He really hopes.

Another coughing fit racks his body, and he buries his face into the crook of his elbow to try to silence it. Okay, wow, that was really gross; he can taste and feel the mucous trying to come out, ew.

"You got this, Gary. It's just one day," he tries to say, but it comes out as a raspy set of words that he barely understands.

This is going to be fantastic.

* * *

It's nearing the end of the day, and somehow Gary hasn't collapsed yet even though his entire body is shaking. Did he eat today? Wow, he can't remember anything.

Right now, he's sitting at a table in the dining room, head in his hands as he tries to breathe without it sounding like a wheezing car engine. 

"Hey, Gary!" Little Cato shouts.

Gary winces at the loud volume, but he collects himself anyways and turns to look at the kid in the doorway with a smile. "Hey, buddy."

"Wanna play a game of cards?"

Gary nods, so Little Cato hands him the deck for Gary to shuffle. Just as Gary starts dealing out cards, the ship's alarms go off. The sound slams into Gary's headache, but he stands despite the urgent need to lay down and never get up again. "AVA, what is it?"

"Bounty hunter ships have been detected. And they are coming straight for us," she says.

Shit. Gary and Little Cato sprint into action, both of them running towards the bridge as fast as they can. Holy fuck, Gary thinks his lungs are going to give out, but he can't worry about that right now because he has a ship to pilot. They reach the bridge, Gary sliding into his seat and immediately taking the controls.

There is so much sweat dripping down his face, his arms are violently shaking, his chest heaving as he tries to breathe. Gary just stares at the controls to see his hands jittering and messing up the controls. He can't pilot properly like this, especially with his vision blurring. 

"Gary, come on! They're gaining on us!" Nightfall shouts, hurrying into the room. "What are you doing?! Move!"

His head whips towards her a bit too quickly, making him even more lightheaded. His hands slip from the controls as his body tips forward out of the seat, passing out cold onto the ground.

* * *

Gary wakes up very slowly. And groggily. God, he feels terrible, but also better at the same time? How the hell does that work?

"Welcome back, sleeping beauty."

Gary turns his head towards Nightfall, who's sitting in a chair next to the bed he's in. Wait, bed? When did he get into bed? Also, isn't this the medbay...?

Gary shoots up into a sitting position, trying to disentangle himself with the sheets, but Nightfall stops him with a strong grip on his shoulders. She shakes her head, anger written across her face. "Nope, you are not doing that. Lay back down, Gary, before I make you."

He doesn't lay down, but he does stop when a wet towel falls down from his forehead into his lap. He looks at her in confusion and tries to ask what's going on, but only a painful breath of air comes out. Gary's hand flies to his throat in double confusion, so he just looks to Nightfall for answers. 

She crosses her arms. "We were being chased by bounty hunters, and you practically collapsed from over-exhaustion. Little Cato was losing his mind, but I told him to pilot while I dealt with you."

Gary looks around the room at that, not seeing his little buddy anywhere.

"He's making you soup," Nightfall answers, practically reading his mind. She smiles. "Just a warning, it'll probably taste terrible."

Gary smiles at that, then Nightfall takes the towel from his hands and dips it in water, ringing it out before giving it back to him. He puts it on and sighs over the relief it brings to his fever. Oh, that feels so good. But wouldn't it be easier to just shove him in a healing pod?

Gary points at them with a raised eyebrow, and Nightfall glares at him. "When you collapsed, you had a 105.2 degree fever. You could have died, Gary. I don't know what you were _thinking_ trying to do everything while being this sick. So, as your punishment for scaring us all half to death, you have to recover at a normal human rate. Which means, get some rest for once. You can't take care of the kid if you can't even take care of yourself."

Gary frowns at her words, even though he knows that they're true. He really messed up.

The two adults turn their heads to the hallway when they hear small footsteps approaching, Little Cato's voice saying, "Don't spill it, don't spill it, don't spill it—KVN, stop, you're gonna make me spill it—don't spill it, don't—." Little Cato stops himself as he sees Gary sitting up in bed, and he gasps excitedly. "Dad! You're awa—fuck, I spilled it!"

Gary tries to laugh over the look on the kid's face when some soup spills onto his hands, but he just ends up coughing painfully. Little Cato sets the soup down on a table and hops up next to Gary on the bed. He ruffles his boy's hair gently, and the kid smiles at him. 

"Are you feeling any better?" Little Cato asks. Gary nods. "Good," the kid says firmly, right before he slaps Gary across the face.

Gary holds his cheek in confusion and looks at the kid angrily, wanting so badly to ask what the hell that was for. But before Gary can even try, Little Cato's head falls to his chest and his ears droop.

"Don't scare me like that again, okay? You always yell at me for doing stuff like this, so take your own advice for once." The kid looks up at him with pleading eyes, and Gary really wishes he could speak right now. His boy can see his expression though, so Little Cato smiles slightly. "I know, you probably wanna say something like, 'I'm sorry, bud. I promise not to do it again,' right?"

Gary smiles at the kid's terrible-on-purpose impression of him and gives him a kiss on the forehead. 

"Now, eat the soup and then I'm gonna yell at you some more so you know what it feels like to be me," Little Cato says as he hands the soup to Gary. 

"Okay, Spidercat," he rasps with a smile.

He takes a sip of the soup and immediately is hit with every wrong flavor in there. He looks at the kid in confusion, just begging to know what happened to it. Gary doesn't even know what he's tasting, but it is not good.

His kid rubs the back of his neck. "Well, Nightfall told me to make chicken noodle soup, and I don't know what that is. Also we don't have chicken. So I put in those yam-thingies you like? And I think those are noodles?"

Gary looks at it in disgust, but the effort was sweet so he's going to eat it anyways. Actually, it's not that bad after the first shocking bite.

"Well, I think your son can handle yelling at you, so my work here is done," Nightfall says, standing up to leave. But Gary grabs her arm and smiles gratefully at her, so she smiles back.

Little Cato gets comfortable as Gary eats his soup, and the kid takes out a piece of paper from his pocket. It's a list of every single thing Gary has ever said to reprimand the kid, and he smiles incredulously at the boy. As the kid goes through each quote, imitating Gary in the most obnoxious way ever, causing Gary to laugh and then start choking, Gary thinks that getting some rest isn't that bad if it'll be like this.

**Author's Note:**

> ironically I started writing this when I was sick. I am still sick when posting this. this was started last week. but unlike Gary, I am actually taking medicine and stuff!
> 
> also dadspeed is just gonna kill me. for the rest of my life. there's so much to do with it.


End file.
